Printing Money

The Federal Reserve has been quietly printing money (well, not so much printing as issuing electronic credit) and buying US debt, which is the equivalent of me printing money to pay for my wife's spending. However, the Fed is going to sharply increase quantitative easing (a nice euphemism for 'printing money'') with a planned outlay of $600 billion dollars. This is angering out creditors, which is just about everybody (China, Japan, UK, South Africa, Germany,...). The reason of course is that printing money without a corresponding increase in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) results in a devalued dollar, which not only devalues the debt owned by other nations, but also devalues the dollars in our own pockets. In addition, I learned something shocking that I never knew before. While the US Government pays interest on the money it borrows, it doesn't pay anything to reduce the principal. In other words, we pay interest only! No principal. The idiocy of that needs no explanation.

So what is the answer to our problem? Bring spending under control. No more bailouts, no more too big to fail (too-big-to-save should be our policy), no more handouts to political constituency groups. In fact, I advocate a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. It's been tried before, but the politicians lacked the political will to finish the job. We need it now more than ever.

Addendum: As I have previously stated, no matter the type of government each of us desires or envisions for this country, it must be founded on sound fiscal principles to survive or to succeed in its goals. One cannot defy gravity forever.

Here we go, here we go!

How high will the tidal wave be on Tuesday?

Republicans will take back the House, the Senate is in flux but probably will remain in Democrat hands (barely).

But when the dust settles, what will change?

What to you think?

Minnesota Governor Pawlenty just explained on Face the Nation that the battle would be over reducing government via, of course, reducing entitlement programs.

George Will's Sunday column encourages us to watch carefully certain races in order to fully appreciate the depth of the revolution of 'less' government that is upon us.

Ummm...less, continually less, less and less spending. I get it. But few specifics. Nearly never any explanations of how to spend a lot less. Just what do the Republicans agree among themselves to reduce? Will representatives and senators from Arizona and Florida, two hubs of retirees, dare to cut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security? How about reducing military spending in states that have major military installations? How about closing down federal agencies? Which ones? Will repeal of Obama's health care plan bill be a safe effort for them?

I don't fear the Republican wave because they will be just as inefficient, just as unwise, just as unwilling to cross the aisle as the Democrat and Republican majorities that preceded them.
And ultimately, it is unclear what, if anything, will change for the better in our lives.

Utah and Massachusetts

Democrats in Utah fight behind enemy lines. The state’s governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state treasurer, and state auditor are all Republicans. Republicans have 21 seats in the state senate to the Democrats’ 8, and 53 seats in the state house to the Democrats’ 22.

Republicans in Massachusetts fight behind enemy lines. The state’s governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of the commonwealth, attorney general, and state auditor are all Democrats. Democrats have 35 seats in the state senate to the Republicans’ 5 and 144 seats in the state house to the Republicans’ 16.

Federal government representation in Utah has 2 Republican
Senators, 2 Republican Representatives, and 1 Democrat Representative.

Federal government representation in Massachusetts has 1 Republican Senator, 1 Democrat Senator, and all 10 house seats are held by Democrats.

In 2008, Utahs gave John McCain 62% of the vote and Barack Obama 34%. The results are similar for Massachusetts in that Barack Obama had 62% of the vote and John McCain 36%.

Overall, it seems that Massachusetts is as much Democrat as Utah is Republican.

The purpose of this post is mostly informative, but also inspired by a local Democratic candidate for House District 60 in which I live. Alan Keele (D) is running against Brad Daw (R). I know Brad Daw personally, and I know Alan Keele from BYU. He was a professor of German and had an office just down the hall from me. I also used to live by his aged uncle. I knew Alan Keele to be a respected professor (more evidence that BYU is not monolithically Republican) and he seemed to be a reasonable man. I read some of his campaign literature to see if he could be a Democrat I could vote for (I am always looking for such a candidate). He seemed to be saying all the right things, i.e., fiscal responsibility, good on education, even the usual stuff about the environment, but then I ran across this line: "A one-party system benefits only extremists. Think of Cuba or North Korea." I was deflated. He is comparing Utah (and Massachusetts
for that matter) to Cuba and North Korea, and implying that Utah Republicans are dictators (and MA Dems as well, I guess). In Utah and Massachusetts, other parties are allowed to operate and run for office. That is not the case in Cuba and North Korea. Opposing persons are either dead or in prision. So such a statement was too over the top for me. I will be sticking with Brad Daw.

I vote "No" Mosque so close to ground zero

When O'Rielly argued with the ladies on the view this past week and stated that it was "Muslims that attacked us on 9/11", the ladies got all in a huff stating that he shouldn't blame the entire Muslim people and that he shouldn't lump them all together to insinuate that they are all terrorists. I think what O'Rielly was saying was similar to what we all do when we are talking war. "the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor", "The Germans murdered Jews", "The British are coming!" We've always lumped people together. We do that to ourselves. Honestly, all the attackers and Master Mines on 9/11 were Muslim. Radical yes...but they carry the name and they even admit that they did it in the name of Islam. Is that to say that we should have said..."The Radical Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor" and the "Radical Germans murdered the Jews" and "the Radical British are coming"? No....because everyone already knows that not the entire nation of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor....their government made that decision. Same with the Germans and the British. If those women of the view think that we viewers are so stupid to hear O'Rielly say that "the Muslims attacked us on 9/11" and we are all sitting there thinking that the entire Muslim population were in on that...then they are just rediculous. I'm not so stupid to sit there and think that. I know what he meant. And although I am not opposed to the Muslims building their mosques in our country, after all, we have our Christian churches and temples built through out the world, I do beleive that out of respect for those families and those people that lived through the horror of 9/11, they should sell the land they purchased and build their Mosque further away from the actual site of where 9/11 occurred. It is kind of a knife twisting thing to have it built there. I think that would be the honorable thing to do.

We don't know God's time.

I hardly get any time to post or write anymore, even about some of the topics I've promised to write about. Even in this bad economy, I still have way too much work on my desk (Malachi 3:10). Nevertheless, I try to read as much as I can, and I found this article by Orson Scott Card closely reflects the way I think about most of church doctrine. That is, God has revealed only a sliver of the 'what to do' and 'what not to do,' and has revealed almost nothing about the how and why. Click on the title of this post of find it.

Yikes!

Ok...I have never heard of this guy until today, but after reading the article attached, I can see he spews out hate. (Just like Westboros Baptist church in Topeka) He's up to no good. I hope he doesn't get the attention in NY that he hopes to get. He obiously doesn't like Muslims, but after a little bit of research on him....he hates Mormons equally. Sorry for him in the long run. After preaching so much hate and negativity it must really leave his mind in darkness. What an awful state to live in.

BYU Goes Indepenent

BYU announced that, starting in 2011, it is going independent in football and joining the West Coast Conference (WCC) in other sports accommodated by the WCC.
For me, it has been a roller coaster of emotions. I was initially excited when Boise State joined the MWC. Then I was deflated with Utah left for the PAC. Then I was worried that BYU would join the WAC again, which would have been disastrous. Now I am happy again (but not without concern) that BYU is aiming for higher goals by going independent in football.

There are some drawbacks to the plan, but due to lack of time, I will list only the points that come to mind.

1. BYU's main goal is exposure, not money, although the money is nice when you don't have to share it with other conference members.
2. The WCC is a good fit because all the WCC schools are faith-based institutions (mostly Catholic, I think).
3. We can watch all BYU games, both football and basketball, and many other sports.
4. BYU signed a nice contract with ESPN for home games and announced a six game series with Notre Dame.
5. BYU has already been getting calls from various universities for scheduling requests because BYU draws fans extremely well where ever they go. That means money for the scheduled university.
6. The BCS is out of the question for the first few years of independence, but down the road they might be able to work out a Notre Dame-like deal, provided that they perform well enough.
7. Poor Boise State. They thought they were getting into a competitive conference. Now they are left with a conference that very much resembles the WAC they left.
8. Craig Thompson, the MWC commissioner, is upset at BYU, but it was his clumsy, ill-conceived TV contract that he signed several years ago that started the problem. Then he raids the WAC, probably utterly destroying it to head off BYU. Now he must deal with the problem of his own making.
9. Now I must absolutely get that big, flat screen TV I have been dreaming about.

Horrors! Anti-incumbency is sweeping the nation! NOT!

Such a hubbub! Everyone is angry! They're throwing the bums out! The Tea Party Revolution is for real! The American public has awoken!

Sorry to disappoint.

Of the 324 primaries held thus far incumbents have won 317 times...and the bums have been thrown out only 7 (Utah Senator Bob Bennett being one of them). Tomorrow two more incumbents are expected to win (McCain being one of them).

There is clearly no anti-incumbent fervor...not within parties at least...not during the primaries at least. Which 'bums' the American people intend to throw out seems to be only dependent on one block of voters: independents, as usual.

The Anatomy of an Analogy

Before I get into a discussion about man being incapable of understanding the mind of God (as I promised last week and which may end up be a very short essay), I need to provide some groundwork for analogies, which I will rely on fairly heavily. We have had discussions about analogies before, i.e., which ones apply and which ones don't.
An analogy brings a complex topic into focus by mapping well known concepts onto complex or less understood concepts. A good analogy allows a person to apply a certain number of known elements to the same number of less understood elements. For example, the sentence "The test was a piece of cake" has a single element "test" that corresponds to a single element "piece of cake," which conveys the idea that "The test was as easy as eating a piece of cake" (which is actually a simile). Analogies can have more elements. For example, "The test and bonus section were a piece of cake with frosting." However, the more elements we add to an analogy, the more likely it is to break down at some point. In fact, all analogies break down at some point. Also, a bad analogy is one where the elements do not map well onto the intended context.
There is also a problem in that people do not, or at least are not willing, to map the intended information. If an analogy suggests an idea that one is not willing to consider or to accept, then the analogy may seems like a bad analogy. Jesus ran into this all the time in His use of parables, which are analogies that involve an entire story and which usually involves human characters.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, a Jewish traveler was mugged and left for dead by the roadside. First, a priest passed by, and then a Levite passed by, and both look the other way. Then, a Samaritan passes by. Samaritans and Jews generally hated each other, but the Samaritan helped the injured Jew. Jesus told the parable in response to a question about the definition of a "neighbor." Portraying a Samaritan in positive light would very likely have made Jesus' audience feel very uncomfortable. In fact, many hated Jesus because His parables made them see things about themselves that they would rather not admit.

Analogies, parables, similes, metaphors, etc. are wonderful and valuable teaching and learning tools, as long as the giver of the analogy skillfully maps the elements and the learner accepts the mapping. Many in Jesus' day did not understand His parables because they did not recognize or refused to accept the mapping of the elements.

That America already has socialist programs is undeniable. I have mentioned several of them in my previous posts on the subject. Reform of America's social programs as they currently exist should be the first step toward creating an American socialism that would at once be superior to existent and previous forms of socialism in the world.

Before taking on reform, it is important to decide what the goals of any comprehensive social program are. I think that the objectives fall into two broad categories. First and foremost, a safety net for the unfortunate and yes, even the unwise. This first category (safety net) would include health care, disability, and unemployment. The second category would address equal access to society's network of opportunities in the government and private sectors. There are many discussions to be had regarding the flushing out of these two categories. However, that is another post.

Reform. All laws and programs have loopholes. We see them in every new legislation. Some of them are left in policies accidentally, others perniciously and on purpose.

Here are some examples of reform:

First, the experiences that Nick and I had with social security disability. We had been wise. We both had and do now have long and short term disability insurance. Nick had expressly bought short term disability insurance, his long term being offered via SkyWest as a benefit. When he fell in, the Hartford Insurance Company fulfilled its contract and paid its contracted amount monthly (even though the paperwork was onerous, it was doable.) What a tremendous help that was to us! However, when it was clear that Nick would transition from short term to long term benefits, the Hartford required us to apply to the government for disability payments before it would pay the long term benefits for which we had contracted with them. The nature of Nick's disease was rare and severe; he was accepted by the government program immediately (much to the surprise of our case workers who said that the government turns down most applications on the first and second attempts, by the way, that process was more onerous that the Hartford's). As soon as the government granted Nick disability payments, the Hartford was off the hook. In essence, the government paid what the Hartford was legally bound to pay. Big business won at the expense of tax payers even though Nick had been paying his premiums since 2002. Lesson: social security should only step in as a last resource, the final safety net, and it should be the least desirable option because it pays less than the private sector, so private sector contracts must take precedence over government programs. To underscore the difference this makes: 20 months of long term payments ended up costing the government $22,68o for which, under contract, the Hartford should have been liable!

In my next post, I will continue with the loopholes we continued (and continue!) to face.

From the conservative side...

This article may be interesting to you.

Starcraft II

Can anyone give me hints on beating "The Great Train Robbery" on hard level? Probably only Alan or Deric.

Proposition Eight Overturned

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker today ruled that California's Proposition Eight is unconstitutional.

The pro-Proposition Eight camp will now appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court. If they lose there,
they will appeal to the United States' Supreme Court. By all accounts I have have listened to or read, the process will take another couple of years.

I suspect that this question will be with us for a very long time regardless of what happens over the next two years.

We have debated the questions together via our family blog quite a bit. I suspect that there is not a great deal that we would say beyond what we have already said. A synopsis of this current decision in California might be helpful.

It's just a mosque.

Much hullaballoo about a mosque that will be built two blocks from ground zero.

I am confounded by those who stand so firmly against the building of this place of worship.

Mayor Bloomberg of New York City said yesterday, "Whatever you may think of the proposed mosque and community center, lost in the heat of the debate has been a basic question--should government attempt to deny private citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property based on their particular religion? That may happen in other countries, but we should never allow it to happen here. This nation was founded on the principle that the government must never choose between religions, or favor one over another."

The local Islamic society owns the land, the existing zoning and building codes do not prohibit religious buildings or community centers in this area. I can think of no reason that could possibly trump the free exercise this religion's right to build a house of worship in this location.

The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether

DURING the autumn of 18--, while on a tour through the extreme southern provinces of France, my route led me within a few miles of a certain Maison de Santé or private mad-house, about which I had heard much in Paris from my medical friends.

So begins the story by Edgar Allan Poe.

Can we at least all agree that North Korea is run by the patients at Maison de Santé?

From the Telegraph.co.uk
North Korea's entire squad was forced onto a stage at the People's Palace of Culture and subjected to criticism from Pak Myong-chol, the sports minister, as 400 government officials, students and journalists watched.
The players were subjected to a "grand debate" on July 2 because they failed in their "ideological struggle" to succeed in South Africa, Radio Free Asia and South Korean media reported.
The team's coach, Kim Jong-hun, was reportedly forced to become a builder and has been expelled from the Workers' Party of Korea.
The coach was punished for "betraying" Kim Jong-un - one of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il's sons and heir apparent.
The country, in its first World Cup since 1966, lost all three group games – including a 7-0 defeat to Portugal.
The broadcast of live games had been banned to avoid national embarrassment, but after the spirited 2-1 defeat to Brazil, state television made the Portugal game its first live sports broadcast ever.
Following ideological criticism, the players were then allegedly forced to blame the coach for their defeats.
Only two players avoided the inquisition - Japanese-born Jong Tae-se and An Yong-hak, who flew straight to Japan after the tournament.
However, media in South Korea said the players got off lightly by North Korean standards.
"In the past, North Korean athletes and coaches who performed badly were sent to prison camps," a South Korean intelligence source told the Chosun Ilbo newspaper.

I feel so badly for the poor (literally and figuratively) citizens of North Korea. Is there not anything the U.S. can do to put the patients back in their padded cells?